


And Then There Were Three

by nfna118



Series: Filling the Gaps [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Period-Typical Racism, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24162466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nfna118/pseuds/nfna118
Summary: Wednesday, August 17, 1977.It's the first day of first grade. Mike meets someone new on the bus to school.
Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Series: Filling the Gaps [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1723810
Comments: 2
Kudos: 60





	And Then There Were Three

**Author's Note:**

> One-shot in a canon-compliant Byler universe. Updates to come approximately whenever I feel like it!

**Wednesday, August 17, 1977**

“Oh, Mikey, it’s time to get up!”

Mike Wheeler resolutely kept his eyes closed as his mother’s sing-song voice filtered into his consciousness. He tried to keep his breathing even as she flung open the curtains, but he couldn’t ignore her hands shaking him awake. “Idowanna,” he grunted as he tried to roll over towards the wall. Even though it wasn’t any earlier than he’d been waking up the past week, it definitely felt like it was too early to wake up today.

“It’s the first day of school! You don’t want to be late!”

As a matter of fact, Mike _did_ very much want to be late. In fact, he’d prefer not to go to school at all today. The summer had been a glorious haze of staying up late and sleeping in and popsicles and ice cream and sleepovers and _Will_ and – and maybe he wasn’t ready to go back to school. Was that really so hard to believe?

“You might even make a new friend!” His mom sounded unnaturally cheery. “Remember how quickly you made friends last year?”

 _Friend_ , Mike corrected silently. _And Will’s more than enough._

Mike grunted and curled up in a ball as Karen finally pulled the sheet off of him. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead! Breakfast’s waiting downstairs!” She ruffled his hair.

“Be down in a minute,” he replied sullenly, as she went down the hall to make sure Nancy was up too.

He lay on his back for a moment, staring at the underside of the top bunk. He sighed. _Will’s excited to go back to school. If he’s excited, then I can be too._ He pushed himself up on his elbows, arching his back, then flopped back down. His stomach rumbled. Breakfast, at least, didn’t sound so bad.

Rolling out of bed, he ignored the outfit his mom had laid out for him last night, instead opting for a red shirt with a dragon on it and his favorite shorts. Maybe she wouldn’t notice.

Mike padded down the hall, peeking in Nancy’s room. She was already downstairs, so he continued on. Halfway down, he thought he smelled – “Pancakes?”

“Hurry down and you might get some before they run out!” his mom called back.

Mike didn’t need to be told twice. He sprinted down the rest of the stairs, tripped on the second-to-last, and ended up sprawled in the entryway. “I’m fine!” he yelled to no one in particular, bounced up, and dashed to his seat at the table.

“No running in the house, Michael.” Ted looked up from his newspaper and frowned slightly. Mike rolled his eyes.

“Oh, Michael, honey. You’re bleeding! You skinned your knee!”

“I’m fine, Mommy.” He was _so_ close to pancakes.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” sighed Karen, shaking her head. “You don’t want to get an infection!”

“But Mommy, I’m hungry _now_!”

“And the faster we clean you up, the faster you can eat!”

Mike grumbled as he followed his mom to the bathroom. His knee only stung a _little_ bit. “Can I have a Spider-Man band-aid?”

“Let’s see if there are any left… Oh, you’re in luck! It’s the last one! But first we have to –”

“Yeah, yeah.” Mike hated rubbing alcohol, but he could bear it if it meant getting a Spider-Man band-aid. He scrunched up his face because, man, that stings – but he was proud of himself for not making a sound.

“There, all better,” his mom said, sticking the band-aid on.

“But, Mommy, wait, you forgot!”

“Forgot what?” asked Karen, raising her eyebrows and feigning ignorance.

“You gotta kiss it better!”

“Oh, that’s right. How could I forget the most important step?” Mike smiled as she kissed his knee, then promptly bounced up, running back to the table.

“Michael, slow down!” Karen winced as he narrowly avoided the counter, but he made it without incident this time.

“Here you go, Michael.” Ted slid a couple of pancakes onto his plate. Mike stood up, reaching across Nancy’s plate to grab the syrup.

“Mom!”

“Michael, what do you say when you can’t reach something?”

“I _could_ reach it, see?”

“Michael.”

“Can you pass the syrup,” Mike grumbled.

Karen nodded, but raised an eyebrow. “Can you pass the syrup, _please_?”

Meanwhile, Mike was busy drowning his pancakes in maple syrup.

“Ew, Mike! Gross!” said Nancy once she noticed.

“You’re gross,” he replied, and promptly started pouring syrup on her plate too.

“Mike, stop it!”

“Michael.”

“Sorry, Mommy.”

“Apologize to your sister.”

Mike stuck out his tongue.

“ _Michael_.” Mike knew that voice. That was the serious, no-TV-for-a-week kind of voice.

“Sorry, Nance,” he mumbled, and began scarfing down his pancakes.

The rest of breakfast was mercifully uneventful. Ted grumbled about how much of the newspaper was devoted to Elvis – “good riddance” – and not things that “actually mattered”. Mike spent most of his time trying to kick Nancy under the table without their parents noticing.

“Now, Mike, why don’t you go and change into your school clothes while Nancy uses the bathroom, then we can brush your teeth.”

“But Mom! They’re so uncomfortable! You know how much I hate collars!”

“Michael, listen to your mother.”

“Daddy, do you even know what she wants me to wear?”

“I’m sure whatever she’s picked out will make a better impression on your new teacher than – lizards.”

“It’s a dragon, Daddy!” But Karen was already ushering him up the stairs. “How does Daddy not know what a dragon is?” he grumbled.

“I’m sure he does,” placated Karen, “But you know it takes Daddy a long time to wake up.” Mike rolled his eyes. “Anyways, time to get changed for school! Do you want some help?”

“No, Mommy. I can do it on my own! You can wait outside.”

Karen smiled fondly as she eased the door most of the way shut. She heard sounds of struggle – Mike still got stuck in his shirts more often than not – but refrained from interfering. After a minute, Mike emerged wearing a nice collared shirt and a distinct frown. “But what about the shorts?” she asked.

“No, Mommy, they’re so itchy and uncomfortable. I’m already wearing the gross shirt. Isn’t that good enough?”

Karen sighed and glanced at her watch. “That’ll have to do. Come on, let’s get your teeth brushed.” She thanked the powers-that-be that Mike stayed still as she brushed his teeth, and only flinched a little as she tried to get his bedhead under control. “Alright, Michael, go grab your backpack and then we can head outside to wait for the bus!”

Mike froze. _The bus_. What he’d been avoiding thinking about all morning. The first day of kindergarten had been bad enough when he didn’t know anyone. Now he _knew_ people, and he didn’t like most of them. Not that they were mean – just boring, and he didn’t fancy sharing a long bus ride with them. It would have been fine – it would have been great – if Will were there too, but Will was on bus 5 and he was on bus 1. Instead he had to share the bus with his stupid sister and a bunch of kids he didn’t know. And it’s not like his mom _couldn’t_ drive them – she just thought this would be “good for him” to “meet new people”. What a great way to start the year.

He grabbed his backpack, loaded with back-to-school supplies, from the foot of his bed and slowly trudged down the stairs. He watched Nancy tie her shoes as he just slipped his Velcro sneakers on. Thank goodness he didn’t have to deal with laces.

Karen hustled them out the door and took the obligatory first day of school photos. Mike started to feel butterflies in his tummy (the _bad_ kind of butterflies, the kind that made him nauseous), so he started to run up and down the driveway. His mom looked like she was going to say something, but then thought better of it. Mike hated running, but at least it gave his brain something to focus on besides the butterflies.

Soon enough, he saw the bus coming down the street. He went to stand next to Nancy and started fidgeting, rocking back and forth on his heels.

“Mike, look at me,” his mom said, kneeling down and cupping his face in her hands. “Today’s going to be lots of fun –” he scrunched up his face – “and even if it’s not, Will’s coming over after school, remember?”

“Oh, yeah! I forgot!” Mike immediately perked up and threw his arms around Karen. “I’m going to miss you, Mommy.”

She chuckled. “I’ll miss you too, but you’ll be back before you know it!” She kissed him on the cheek, then kissed Nancy on the forehead – “Mommm!” – and then the bus was right there.

As Nancy had told him, they were indeed the first stop, and there was no one else on the bus. Nancy walked towards the back of the bus, so Mike followed her. When she noticed, she turned around. “Mike!”

“What?”

“You can’t sit back here! This is where the older kids sit!”

“But I wanna sit with you. I don’t know anyone else.”

“Mike, I always sit with Barb. And you’re only in first grade, so you need to sit up there.” She pointed above each seat, where a number had been taped up. Her voice softened. “It’s gonna be okay, I promise. I know it’s scary, but I know you’re brave.”

Mike hugged her quickly, then chose a seat with a “1” above it and waved good-bye to Karen as the bus pulled away.

Two doors down, the bus stopped again. Looking out the window, Mike saw a black boy in equally uncomfortable-looking clothes hugging his dad good-bye while his mom was rocking a baby in her arms. He seemed much less scared about the bus than Mike, though, and practically bounded up the steps.

When he reached the top of the stairs, his eyes scanned the bus quickly, landing on Mike. He started walking and before Mike knew what was happening, the boy was sitting next to him. “Hi,” he said, sticking out his hand. “I’m Lucas.”

Mike stared at him, taken aback. “Only first graders are supposed to sit here,” he said after a moment, frowning, pointing above his head.

“I know. I’m in first grade.” Lucas’s hand remained between them.

“Then how come I’ve never seen you before? Did you just move here?”

Lucas frowned. “No, we moved here when I was two.”

“But –”

“Were you in afternoon kindergarten?” Lucas asked, impatience creeping into his tone.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“Because I was in – look, are you gonna shake my hand or not? Because my arm’s starting to get pretty tired.”

“Oh.” Mike blinked. He clasped Lucas’s hand. “I’m Mike. Mike Wheeler.”

“Nice to meet you, Mike Wheeler,” said Lucas, vigorously pumping his hand up and down. “So whose class are you in?”

“Ms. Coleman, you?”

“Same, man!” Lucas sounded excited. “Sweet. All of my friends from last year are in different classes now. It’ll be good to know someone else in my class.”

Mike nodded, but didn't say anything.

“What? Am I not cool enough for you?” Lucas pretended to be offended.

“Nah, you’re fine, man,” Mike replied. His mouth continued to make small talk with Lucas for the rest of the bus ride while his mind wondered why he didn’t feel anything like he had when he had met Will for the first time.

* * *

Soon enough, the bus arrived at Washington Elementary. The school looked just the same, but it felt – different, somehow, coming in on a bus. He stood up, swinging his backpack on, and followed Lucas down the steps off the bus. “See you in class,” he said distractedly, eyes already scanning the rest of the parking lot. Bus 7, bus 2, bus 4… bus 5. There it was. And there, just coming down the steps was –

Before he knew what was happening, he found his legs sprinting towards bus 5, completely unaware of the squawk of indignation and hurt look from Lucas and the yelps of other students he narrowly avoided colliding with. Will was only a few steps off the bus when Mike crashed into him, yelling, “Byers!”

Will would have fallen over if Mike hadn’t wrapped his arms firmly around him on impact. “Oof,” he grunted. “You’re gonna break a rib one of these days, Wheeler,” he said, but his voice was muffled by the collar of Mike’s shirt. Mike picked him up and twirled him around a little bit. Will always complained about how he was so much shorter than everyone else – and Mike in particular – but in the privacy of his own head, he secretly thought it maybe wasn’t so bad being short if it meant that Mike could twirl him around like this.

“Okay, okay, Mike, that’s enough,” he finally managed, gasping for breath. He _was_ getting a little dizzy.

Mike finally put him down – Will noticed he was swaying slightly too – and grinned widely. “I’ve missed you, Byers,” he said.

“Missed me?” Will wrinkled his face and cocked his head to the side. “I just saw you yesterday!”

“Yeah, I know,” grumbled Mike as they turned towards the school entrance, “But that was too long ago. You didn’t get to sleep over. And my mommy made me wear this super awful shirt.” Will giggled. He knew how Mike felt about collars. “And Will, Nancy, was so _annoying_ last night. If you’d been there, then…”

Will smiled. He never seemed to have as much to say as Mike did, but Mike never seemed to mind. He could listen to Mike chatter on about random things forever.

As they passed through the doors, neither of them noticed a disappointed pair of eyes following them, barely holding back tears.

* * *

Various adults were standing at every intersection, smiling and holding signs directing the students where they were supposed to go. Will and Mike turned left and passed all the kindergarten classrooms. Will shyly returned Mrs. Palmer’s wave, but Mike was too distracted to notice until Will elbowed him in the ribs. At the end of the hall, they climbed the stairs to the first and second grade hallway. The teachers were all holding signs with their names, and a few doors down, Mike finally spotted Ms. Coleman. He tugged Will over to the other side of the hallway.

Ms. Coleman smiled as they approached. “Good morning, boys!” she called. “What are your names?” Will shrunk a little behind Mike.

“I’m Mike,” said Mike confidently, “and this is Will.” Will let himself be tugged back into view.

Ms. Coleman glanced down at the roster on the back of her sign. “Will Byers and Mike… Wheeler?” she asked.

Mike grinned. “Yep, that’s us!”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mike and Will! You can go ahead and explore the classroom while we wait for everyone else to get here,” she said, but the boys had already disappeared into the classroom. She shook her head fondly, already mentally re-arranging her seating chart.

* * *

Ms. Coleman’s classroom was fairly similar to Mrs. Palmer’s. There were windows that looked out onto the playground. There was a big carpeted area clearly intended for circle time. There was a bookcase near the back corner. The biggest difference was that instead of tables, there were – “Desks,” Will breathed out. Indeed, there were clusters of desks dotted around the room and every desk had a nametag on it.

“Hey, look, Will! It’s your name,” said Mike, pointing. Indeed, it was. When Will looked back up, Mike was halfway across the room, looking for his own name. “Found it!” he called from the opposite corner. Will’s heart fell, but then he noticed Mike trotting back, nametag in hand.

“Mike?” he asked, “What are you doing?”

Just fixing things,” he said. “ _Obviously_ she didn’t know that we’re best friends, or she’d already have put us next to each other.”

“But there's already –”

“Not anymore!” interrupted Mike with a grin, swiping Greg M.’s nametag from the desk next to Will’s and bringing it back to where his had originally been. “See, that was easy,” he said when he returned.

“But –”, said Will, glancing nervously at the door, “won’t she notice?”

“Nah,” said Mike, “And even if she does, she won’t care. If we can read already, we’re smart enough to sit wherever we want.”

Will nodded. Mike’s logic checked out. “Okay. So now what?” He glanced nervously over at the carpet where all their classmates seemed to be gathering. He recognized a few of them from Mrs. Palmer’s class, but no one he was friendly with. He didn’t really want to talk to anyone yet, and –

“Now, we sit,” said Mike, bringing him back to reality when he plopped down unceremoniously in his new desk chair. Will followed suit quickly, relieved. “So how was your bus ride? Meet any cool people?”

Will snorted. “Oh, yeah, I actually made a new best friend. He’s in a different class, though.”

“Wait. What? Really?” Mike left his mouth hanging slightly open and his eyes were wide.

“No, you idiot, I’m joking.” He punched Mike’s shoulder. “You know you’ll always be my best friend.”

“Yeah,” Mike muttered, “yeah, I know.”

“Hey. Look at me.” Will put a hand on Mike’s good knee. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he muttered, but he returned the gesture and suddenly brightened up. “So what did you dream about last night?”

Before Will could answer, the lights flickered off and back on again.

* * *

Ms. Coleman hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep last night. She’d graduated with a bachelor’s in elementary education from Indiana University that May. She’d taken interviews all across the state, but hadn’t gotten hired until the beginning of August, about two and a half weeks ago. Everything since had been a whirlwind of moving from Bloomington to Hawkins and setting up her classroom. There were still boxes strewn around her apartment, but she’d finished setting up the classroom yesterday evening. She’d gone home, made dinner, and then lain awake for several hours before she finally nodded off.

And now here she was, about to meet eighteen bright, curious little boys and girls. Jennifer Hayes, the last name on her list, had just entered the room. She took a deep breath. Show time.

She walked into the classroom and flickered the lights to get everyone’s attention. “Good morning, boys and girls!” she called out into the ensuing silence. “Will you join me on the rug so we can start our day together?”

Pretty much everyone was already near the carpet, if not actually on it – except for two boys who were already sitting at desks, giggling to each other as they made their way over to the rest of the class. She glanced down at her list – Mike and Will, although she couldn’t recall which was which.

“Let’s form a circle,” she said, sitting down in her rocking chair. “Sit down Indian-style!” With just a little bit of jostling, a rough oval was eventually formed.

“Now, raise your hand if you know someone in this circle already.” Most of the children raised their hands. Two were down entirely – maybe they moved in over the summer, or hadn’t gone to kindergarten? The black boy’s hands was only half-raised, as he stared across the circle at Mike-or-Will, the corner of his mouth tense. _Interesting_.

“Well, since we’ll be together all year, let’s go around the circle and introduce ourselves. We’ll have plenty of time to talk more later, so right now I just want you to tell me your name and –” she put her finger to her lips, pretending to think – “your favorite color. I’ll go first! My name is Ms. Coleman, and my favorite color is purple.”

They proceeded clockwise around the circle, allowing her time to match a few more names with faces. Everything was going smoothly until it got to the smaller of Mike-or-Will. Instead of saying anything, he just turned and stared at the taller one. She didn’t think any of the other students could see, but from her vantage point, she saw Mike reach out and cover Will’s left hand on the ground with his own, and squeeze. That seemed to do the trick, because after a few seconds –

“My name is Will Byers, and my favorite color is…” He trailed off, evidently deep in thought. “All of them!” He smiled shyly.

“And my name is Mike Wheeler, and my favorite color is hazel!”

If Ms. Coleman hadn’t been looking closely, she didn’t think she’d have noticed Will’s ears got even a little pinker.

They went around the rest of the circle without incident, then went over the class rules and stood and said the pledge with the principal over the PA system, then it was time to go to the desks.

“Alright, boys and girls,” she said, patting her lap and standing up. “You’re all going to have your own desk this year. They’re not permanent, but you’ll be sitting in the same place for at least the first couple weeks. I’ve put each of your names on one of the desks, so when I say go –” she paused, as some of the students started to get up, then sheepishly sat back down under her teacher glare – “when I say go, we’ll all stand up and find our desks. If you need help, I’m more than happy to help you. Three… two… one… go!”

 _Well, it was less of a mad dash than I feared_ , she reflected, walking around the classroom to make sure the students matched her seating chart and helping a few of them find their names. Everything was fine until – “Michael?”

“Yes, Ms. Coleman?” he smiled up innocently.

“Can you double-check your nametag for me?” she said patiently. Clearly, he and Will had just gone back to the same desks they’d claimed before class started.

“What about it, ma’am?”

“Does it have your –” She glanced down, and did a double-take. The nametag clearly read “Mike W.”, although she definitely remembered placing it on the other side of the room last night.

“My what?” His polite smile never wavered.

“I – nothing,” she stammered, a little flustered. “Good job finding your seat, Mike.”

 _Well, they’re not clever enough to keep their giggling down_ , she thought as she circulated around the room, _but I’ll need to keep an eye on those two for sure._

* * *

The bell rang that signaled the end of the day, and Lucas quickly shoved his things in his backpack and trudged out to the buses. His day had been about a 5. It hadn’t gone as terribly as he’d feared when he woke up that morning – his classmates from last year had ignored him at recess instead of bullying him or calling him names for something he couldn’t control. But nor had it gone as well as he’d hoped when he sat on the bus this morning and thought he’d made a friend, one who didn’t seem to care what color his skin was. He’d been perfectly nice and polite, and seemed genuinely interested in what Lucas had to say, but once they stepped off the bus, Mike had completely ignored him. Lucas wasn’t sure what to make of that. If Mike was on the bus this afternoon, he’d just ask him what was going on. If he didn’t want to be friends, that was fine, but this weird halfway space just felt – weird.

As soon as he got on the bus, though, he realized the problem with his plan. Mike wasn’t sitting alone. He wasn’t even looking anywhere near Lucas’s direction. Like class all day, he only had eyes for that – what was his name – Will kid. Lucas plopped down diagonally behind them. He didn’t realize Will was on this bus – maybe his mom had dropped him off this morning? At any rate, he and Mike were the last two stops, so once Will got off, he could slide in and talk to Mike.

As the bus ride went on, though, he felt his stomach sinking lower and lower as the realization dawned that Will _wouldn’t_ be getting off before Mike. Indeed, as he got off the bus, his mom and Erica waiting in the driveway, he passed Mike and Will scrambling to get their backpacks untwisted from each other – what the heck had they been doing to get them that tangled in the first place? – so clearly they had a playdate planned.

He plastered on a smile as his mom asked him how his day was – “It was good, Mommy!” _And_ , he reflected, _half a friend is better than no friends, right?_

* * *

Most of the rest of the day had gone smoothly for Will. He had been sure that Ms. Coleman was going to make Mike move to where he was supposed to be sitting, but Mike put on his polite talking-to-adults face and somehow convinced her that everything was as it should be.

Most of the morning was comfortingly familiar. They sang songs and did things with numbers and letters, and Ms. Coleman read them a fantastic story about Elmer, a patchwork elephant. Will couldn’t wait for some free time to draw and color a patchwork elephant of his own. Usually, he’d have done it during snack time, but snack time apparently didn’t exist anymore. Instead, they had –

“Boys and girls, stand up and line up by the door. It’s time for lunch! If you brought your lunch or money, you should grab it from your desk before you line up.” Will followed Mike to his desk where he scrounged up two quarters from the bottom of his backpack, but Will didn’t grab anything.

“Are you gonna eat?” asked Mike, looking concerned.

“Yeah, I – yeah, I’ll explain later,” replied Will, looking down at his feet. Everyone was already lining up, and he definitely didn’t want to make a scene.

“Okay,” said Mike affably, ushering Will towards the line, “Come on!”

When they got to the cafeteria, Will followed Mike to what they assumed was the lunch line. They each picked up a tray with a hamburger, fries, a carton of milk, and a cup of red Jell-o. The lunch ladies smiled at them but Will shrank behind Mike, irrationally scared that they could see what he was about to do. They stayed in line to pay. Mike handed over his fifty cents and got a smile. Will prayed that he’d go and find a seat, but of _course_ he turned around and waited for Will.

“I – I’m Will Byers?” he told the lunch lady at the register.

She glanced down at a sheet of paper next to her. “Byers… Byers… Here you are. All set, sweetie!” Will grimaced uncomfortably and ducked his head. Mike, seemingly unfazed, led them to open seats at their class’s table.

“What’s up?” he asked when they sat down. “You look embarrassed. Did someone call you names on the way over?”

“What? No. I – Mike. You _saw_ what happened back there.”

“Saw what? That you got your lunch for free? That’s awesome, dude!”

Will sighed. Mike was smart. So why did he have to spell this out for him. “Do you know _why_ I get lunch for free?”

“Uh, because you’re awesome and smart and you totally deserve it?”

Will fought back a smile. “I – no, Mike. It’s because Mom can’t afford to buy me lunch. Ever since Dad left, money’s been tight, and –” He felt Mike’s hand on his shoulder. It wasn’t pity, like he got from everyone else whenever he mentioned his dad – it was just Mike’s way of reminding Will that _he_ wouldn’t ever leave.

“And?”

“And what, Mike? It’s embarrassing. We can’t even afford fifty cents for lunch.”

“But that adds up! If Jonathan buys lunch too, that’s a dollar every day, and there are a hundred eighty days in the school year, so that’s… a hundred eighty dollars every year. That’s a lot of money, Will. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“I hadn’t thought about it like that before, I guess. …Thanks, Mike.”

“But you know what the _best_ part is?” asked Mike, suddenly grinning.

“…What?” asked Will warily.

“No one’s around to tell us to save dessert for last!” he said, digging into his Jell-o.

Will laughed, all embarrassment forgotten.

* * *

The afternoon passed without incident, and they soon found themselves on the bus to Mike’s house.

“So you never told me what happened to your knee,” said Will as they sat down.

“Oh, I, uh…” Mike’s ears turned pink.

“C’mon, Mike, it can’t be as bad as the time when you ran into –”

“Shhh!” cried Mike, slapping a hand over Will’s face and darting his eyes around to see if anyone was listening in (they weren’t). “We don’t speak of that! I just – fell down the stairs a little bit this morning.”

“A little bit?”

“It was like the second-to-last step. There were pancakes, Will! _Pancakes!_ ”

Will giggled. “Hey, at least you got a Spider-Man band-aid, right?”

Soon enough, they were on Mike’s road. A boy from their class – Luke? – got off a few houses before Mike and then they were laughing and running up the driveway and shoving each other inside.

“Hungry, boys?” asked Mrs. Wheeler, peering down through that weird little window between the kitchen and the sun room that Will didn’t know if there was a name for.

“Yes!” shouted Mike. “Lunch was, like, years ago!”

Will rolled his eyes, but dutifully followed Mike into the kitchen and happily took a plate of graham crackers and a glass of milk.

“Do you have any homework?” asked Mrs. Wheeler.

“It’s the first day of school, Mommy. Of course not.”

“Any paperwork for me to sign?”

“Oh, yeah.” He dug around in his backpack. “Here,” he said, dropping it on the table.

“Make any new friends?”

He thought for a moment in mock concentration, then flung his arms around Will. “Nope!” he declared, “Will’s the only friend I need!”

Will thought Mrs. Wheeler’s smile looked just a little bit forced.

* * *

**Thursday, August 18, 1977**

Mike was in a much better mood the next morning as he followed Nancy onto the bus. He sat in the same seat as yesterday and waited for Lucas to get on the bus.

But instead of joining Mike in the seat, Lucas purposely ignored him and sat across the aisle, eyes forward.

“Hi, Lucas,” Mike called.

“Hi, Mike,” he replied in a monotone, not turning to look at him.

Mike frowned. “What’s wrong with you, man?”

“What – what’s wr – what’s wrong with _me_?” Lucas spluttered. “You’re the one who doesn’t wanna be friends with me!”

“What?” cried Mike. “No! Why wouldn’t I wanna be friends?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” countered Lucas, “Maybe the way you totally ignored me all day yesterday?”

“I wasn’t ignoring you on purpose!”

“Oh, so you just forgot I existed, then. Even better.”

“No!” Mike had a disgusted look on his face. “Why are you saying that? What did I ever do to you?”

“I thought we were friends, man, then you just – ditched me all day. You even switched desks so you wouldn’t have to sit next to me – don’t think I didn’t notice that,” he replied, glaring out of the corner of his eye.

Mike winced. “I didn’t even notice where you were sitting. I just wanted to sit next to –”

“Byers. Yeah. I noticed. What’s the deal with him, anyways?”

“What do you mean, what’s the deal with him?” Mike’s tone was suddenly defensive, and his stomach started churning.

“I mean, you’re, like, obsessed with him. As soon as you got off the bus, you ran over to him and you always sit next to him and you had lunch with him and you played at recess with him and he was over your house last night and – it’s a little weird, man.”

“He’s my best friend,” said Mike, shrugging and gesturing as if to say that that should clear everything up.

“Sure, whatever. But you can have more than one friend, you know that, right?”

“Yeah. But I don’t _need_ another friend. I have Will.”

“Yeah. I know. But maybe… maybe other people want to be your friend too.” Lucas was staring out the window now.

Mike’s body relaxed. _Oh._ That’s _what this is about_. “Hi,” he said suddenly, sticking out his hand, “I’m Mike.”

Lucas wiped his face before he turned around and stared at Mike’s outstretched hand in confusion. “Yeah, I know who you are?”

Mike kept his hand out.

Lucas sighed, then tentatively reached out his own hand to clasp Mike’s. “I’m Lucas. Nice to meet you.”

Mike smiled. “Nice to meet you, Lucas. Would you like to be my friend?”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “I _guess_ so,” he drawled.

“Don’t friends sit together on the bus?” asked Mike.

“Ugh. Fine,” Lucas grumbled, grabbing his backpack and shifting over to Mike’s seat. “So does this mean you’re not going to ignore me today?”

“I – Will’s always going to be my best friend, okay?” Mike blurted out, eyes full and serious.

“Sure,” shrugged Lucas.

“But if he’s okay with it, we can be friends with too, yeah? We can sit together at lunch and play together at recess?”

“Yeah,” smiled Lucas. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

* * *

Thus, as they were lining up for lunch, Mike leaned over to Will and whispered, “Will, you know you’re always gonna be my best friend, right?”

Will nodded as his entire body tensed up. “Yeah. What’s wrong?” he whispered back.

“Nothing! I just – there’s this kid in our class, Lucas, and he’s on my bus, and I don’t think he has any other friends, and he wants to be friends with me, but I told him that you were always gonna be my best friend, and I just wanted to know what you –”

“Mike,” interrupted Will, relaxing again. “That sounds cool. I’d like to meet him.”

“Are you sure?” asked Mike, raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah,” replied Will, nodding once.

Mike smiled. “Cool.” He gestured for Lucas to join them in line. Lucas walked over shyly, lunchbox in hand.

“Lucas, this is Will. Will, this is Lucas.” Lucas stuck out his hand and Will shook it.

“Friends?” asked Mike.

“Friends!” Will and Lucas replied together.

It was hard to stay quiet in the halls, but once Mike and Will made it through the lunch line and sat down at a table with Lucas, it turned out that they actually had a lot in common. Lucas could already read, too, and he liked space and comic books and –

Mike smiled as he watched Will and Lucas debate which superhero was best. This had definitely been a good idea.

* * *

“Mommy! Mommy!” Mike burst in through the door that afternoon, sans Will. “Guess what!”

“What, honey?” Karen bustled over to him as he struggled to get his shoes off with one hand. (The other, she noted, held one of Will’s drawings – some sort of multicolored elephant.)

“I made a new friend!”

“Oh, you did? What’s his name?” She smiled widely. She was glad he’d been able to be there for Will last year, but it would be good for him to have someone else too and not take up _all_ of Will’s time.

“His name’s Lucas! He lives on our street, like two doors that way.”

Karen racked her brain. Were there other children Mike’s age that lived so close? Then she remembered –

“Do you mean Lucas Sinclair?”

“I think so? I don’t really remember his last name, but that sounds right?”

“In the blue house?”

“Yeah!”

Karen pursed her lips. “That’s good, Michael. I’m glad you’ve made a new friend.”

“Can I have him over?”

“Not today – I need to talk to his parents first. But maybe sometime this weekend?”

“Awesome!” yelled Mike, bounding into the kitchen and grabbing the plate of crackers Karen had already set out.

Karen sighed to herself. She didn’t have any issues herself, of course, but she knew Ted would need some preparation before Mike had his new friend over. _It was bound to happen sooner or later_ , she thought, _And it really is a good thing that he’s meeting more boys._

Mike pulled her back into the kitchen with more chattering about his day, and she put the thoughts out of her mind.


End file.
